Call for Peace Drum & Dance Company (CFP) seeks to
educate through the arts locally, nationally and
internationally to promote a vision of humanity in the
Circle Dance that embraces respect, balance, harmony and
peace. The varied drum rhythms seem to reach back
through time to the original roots of human life,
finding the common thread that connects us all, while the
ethnic expressions of those rhythms celebrate the diversity
of humanity. The traditional dances mimic movements
and elements of nature, demonstrating their origins in the
natural, physical environment that surrounds us. They
remind us that we are only a small part of the environment
that nurtures and sustains us. The Circle Dance
visibly embodies the global cooperation, respect and
understanding that must lead the nations' peoples through
the 21st century if there is to be a future for the children
of the world. Call for Peace is a metaphor for that
vision of a nonviolent world where all life thrives
harmoniously.

In 2003, CFP recognized the need for their message to reach
children in a more direct and efficient way, as youth hold
the ability to create a new world of respect and peace in
their hands. As a result, CFP launched Call for Peace the Next Generation
(CFPNG),
a group of youth performers who can relate to the younger
audience members as peers. In a time when youth are plagued by having to face
violence, prejudice and more, and studentsí opportunities
to witness and participate in performance art are becoming
increasingly rare, it is becoming crucial to expose youth to
peers who celebrate our diversity with acceptance and
express themselves creatively through the arts. For these reasons,
CFPNG provides quality performance programs that inspire and
fuel imagination and understanding among all audience members,
actively encouraging youth to explore a new and significant
means of creativity and communication.

CFPís youth performers have performed in and
around Dane County, including such events as Kids for Peace
Day at Madisonís Childrenís Museum (9/03), Celebrate
Youth (11/03), the opening of the Hmong exhibit at the
Madison Civic Center (1/04), International Days at the
Madison Civic Center (2/04) and Wisconsin School Age Care
Alliance Conference (4/04). Performances are showcased based on
their relevance to particular age groups, and each performance
opens with a message of peace, followed with drums and dance,
highlighting over 10 possible individual cultural dances,
and concludes with the spectacular Circle Dance that joins
all artists in a powerful celebration of unity and harmony.
In past performances, CFPNG has moved its audience to
tears as it artistically revealed the common thread that
connects all of humanity.

For over 10 years, the
Call for Peace Talking Stick/Talking Circle program has been
providing participants with an open and accepting
communication forum, receiving support and acclaim from both
educators and parents in the Madison Metropolitan School
District and throughout the greater Wisconsin area. During the
workshop, participants make and decorate their own
talking stick from natural materials (shells, feathers,
rocks, etc.) provided by the facilitator and either a stick
they have brought with them, or one the participants find
outside, that is representative of their individuality and
life story. Participants learn about the tradition surrounding
the talking circle and use the circle to discuss problems they
all share, the environment, conflict resolution and things that are
important to their future. Only the individual holding a marked
feather is allowed to speak during the project, and the feather is
passed continuously until everyone who wishes to speak has
done so. If the group is working with a conflict, the talk continues
until consensus can be reached and all participants are asked to
respect the solution, as they helped to reach it together
and agreed to it without coercion. Participants learn how to use
the Talking Stick and the Talking Circle to resolve interpersonal,
inter-group, intra-group, and other conflicts in a nonviolent manner.
The activity works to empower participants through
positive communication based on respect: everyone has a
voice, all voices are unique and all voices are important.
The talking stick ensures that no one voice will prevail
over others.

Art Shegonee, a member of the Menominee and
Potawatomi tribes of Wisconsin, is an experienced performer,
teacher and peacemaker. An ambassador of Milwaukee, Wisconsinís Indian
Summer and Call for Peace Drum & Dance Company, Shegonee
specializes in teaching tools of respect, nonviolence,
conflict resolution and peace. Art has provided over 400 schools, libraries,
businesses and community centers educational programs that
demonstrate and teach traditional Native American dance and
history, positive communication skills and more. He is also the founder of the Call for Peace Talking
Stick/Talking Circle program, and has worked with groups of
all ages to teach the program as a means to resolve
conflicts respectfully, peacefully and cooperatively in a
traditional Native American way.